Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/412

Rh 386 AGRICULTURE [LIVE STOCK- much stronger than their appearance indicates, have great powers of endurance, and can be kept in prime working condition at much less cost than bulkier animals. It is on muscular power and nervous energy that the strength of animals depends, and this, therefore, should be sought after in the farm-horse rather than mere bulk. Cart-mares should not foal earlier than May. Provided they are not unduly pushed or put to draw heavy loads, they may be kept at work almost up to their time of f oaling, and are thus available for the pressing labours of spring. It is of importance, too, that the pasture should be fresh and the weather mild ere their nursing duties begin. Mares seldom require assistance in bringing forth their young, and although it is. well to keep an eye upon them when this event is expected, they should be kept as quiet as possible, as they ara.impatient of intrusion, and easily disturbed in such circumstances. A sheltered paddock with good grass, and where there are no other horses, is the most suitable quarters for a mare that has newly foaled. There must be no ditch or pond in it, as young foals have a peculiar fatality for getting drowned in such places. A mare, in ordinary condition, receives the stallion on the ninth or tenth day after foaling, and with a greater cer tainty of conceiving than when it is delayed until she is again in heat. If the mare s labour can at all be dis pensed with, it is desirable to have her with her foal for two months at least. She may then be put to easy work with perfect safety, so that she is not kept away from the foal longer than two or three hours at a time. When the foal has got strong enough, it may even be allowed to follow its dam at her work, and to get suck as often as it desires it. Towards the end of September foals are usually weaned, and are then put under cover at night, and receive a little corn, along with succulent food. Good hay, bran, carrots, or swedes, and a few oats, must be given regularly during the first winter, with a warm shed to lie in, and an open court for exercise. At weaning it is highly expedient to put a cavasin on colts, and lead them about for a few times. A few lessons at this early age, when they are easily controlled, saves a world of trouble afterwards. Before being turned to grass in spring, they should, on the same principle, be tied up in stalls for a week or so. It is customary to castrate colts at a year old. Some, indeed, advise its being done a few weeks after birth, when, of course, the pain to the animal and risk of death are less. It must, however, be borne in mind that this early emascu lation will probably ensure a skranky neck, whereas a natural tendency to this defect can in good measure be remedied by deferring the operation. We have seen a puny colt much improved in figure by being left entire until he was two years old. By giving good pasture in summer, and a liberal allowance of hay, roots, and oats in winter, colts may with safety, and even benefit, be put to moderate work in their third spring. Some time before this is done they should be put through a short course of training, to use them to the bit, and make them quiet and handy. Many good cart-horses are ruined for want of a little timely attention in this way. When they have got familiar with the harness, they should be yoked to a log of wood, and made to draw that up and down the furrows of a fallow field, until they become accustomed to the restraint and exertion, after which they may with safety be put to plough alongside a steady and good-tempered horse, and, what is of equal consequence, under the charge of a steady, good-tempered ploughman. As they should not have more than five hours work a-day for the first summer, it is always an advantage to have a pair of them to yoke at the same time, in which case they take half-day about, and do a full horse s work betwixt them. With such moderate work and generous feeding their growth will be promoted. By midsummer, the press of field labour being over, it is advisable to turn the striplings adrift, and let them enjoy themselves in a good pasture until after harvest, when they can again be put to plough. Horses should not be required to draw heavy loaded carts until they are five years old. When put into the shafts earlier than this they frequently get strained and stiffened in their joints. On every farm requiring four or five pairs of horses it is highly expedient to have a pair of young ones coming in annually. This enables the farmer to be provided against contingencies, and to have his stable occupied at all times with horses in their full vigour, which go through their work with spirit, and never falter for a little extra pushing in emergencies. Section 3. Feeding and General Management of Farm-Horses. As there is true economy in employing only the best quality of horses, and these in their prime, so also is there in feeding them uniformly well, and looking to their com fort in all respects. The following quotation from the Transactions (for October 1850) of the Highland and Agri cultural Society of Scotland, describes the practice of some of our most experienced farmers in this particular : &quot;The system of feeding I adopt is as follows .-From the middle of October till the end of May my horses get one feed of steamed food and two feeds of oats daily, with the best oat or wheat straw for fodder. ! never give bean straw unless it has been secured in fine condition, having often seen the bad effects of it, partly owing, I think, to its long exposure to the weather. In our variable climate, and from the quantity of sand which adheres to it, I use it generally for litter. The steamed food used is well washed Swedish turnips and potatoes in equal proportions, mixed with sifted wheat-chaff. In those years when we had a total loss of potatoes Swedish turnip alone was used, but not with the same good effect as when mixed with potatoes. This year, having plenty of diseased potatoes in a firm state, I give a larger proportion of potatoes than turnip, and never upon any occasion give oat husks, commonly called meal- seeds, having often seen their injurious effects. At five o clock in the morning each horse gets 6 ft weight of bruised oats, at noon the same quantity of oats, and at half-past seven P.M. 47 ft weight of steamed food. I find that it takes 62 ft weight of unsteamed potatoes and turnip to produce 47 ft steamed ; to each feed of steamed food, 4 oz. of common salt are added, and mixed up with one-fourth part of a bushel of wheat-chaff, weighing about 1 ft, a greater quantity of wheat-chaff than this having generally too laxa tive an effect. Each horse eats from 14 ft to 18 ft of fodder during the twenty-four hours, besides what is required for litter. In spring I sometimes give a mixture of bruised beans and oats, instead of oats alone ; from June to the middle of October those horses that are required for the working of the green crop, driving manure, and harvest-work, are fed with cut grass and tares in the house ; and about 7 ft of oats each day, given at twice, increasing or decreasing the quantity according to the work they have to do ; and I turn out to pasture only those horses that are not required until the busy season. I disapprove of horses that are regularly worked being turned out to grass, and exposed to all the changes of our variable climate, as I believe it to be the origin of many diseases. By this mode of feeding the horses are always in fine sleek condition, and able for their work. I have acted upon this system for the last fifteen years, have always had from 16 to 20 horses, and during that period I have only lost 7 horses, 3 of them from accidental causes ; and I attribute this, in a great measure, to the mode of feeding, and in particular to the steamed food.&quot; The treatment of horses differs somewhat in other places from that now detailed. In Berwickshire, for example, they are usually turned to pasture as soon as the mildness of the weather and the forwardness of the pasture admit of it. While employed in carrying the crop, their fodder consists largely of tares, and afterwards till Martinmas they are fed on hay. From this date oat and bean straw, with 8 or 10 lb of raw swedes to each per diem, is substituted till the 1st of March, when, with the recurrence of harder labour, hay is again given till the return of the grazing season. During three-fourths of the year they receive about 16 lb of oats per diem, in three separate feeds. From the close of turnip-sowing until harvest, oats are either withheld or given only when a harder day s work occurs. The practice